1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to the art of refrigeration, and more particularly to portable commodity containers including a coolant for keeping beverages cold.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are many activities during which it would be desirable to have a cold drink available. Examples of such activities are tennis, hiking, golf, bicycle riding, fishing and the like. A cold drink would also be desirable to, for example those, people who may take their lunch to work or school.
Portable refrigerated beverage containers for these type activities should have a number of attributes. For example, they should be lightweight, economical to manufacture, protect the contents from breakage, attractive, sturdy and durable to withstand damage to itself, capable of accommodating a variety of beverage container shapes and sizes, and capable of keeping the beverage cold over an extended length of time.
A number of refrigerated portable beverage containers are known to me and are illustrated by the following U.S. Pats.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,401,535 issued on Sept. 17, 1968 to G. L. Palmer shows a quite large cooling container for beverages which is illustrated in the shape of a box. The container has an outer shell and an insert. The insert includes a number of cavities molded in the shape of a beverage can. The space between the insert and the outer shell is filled with a cooling medium such as water-alcohol solution. The tops of the beverage cans project above the top of the insert into recesses formed in an insulated removable cover so that they can be grasped for removal from the insert cavities when the insulated cover is removed. The container also has a carrying handle which is attached to the insert and extends through a hold in the removable cover.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,703,816 issued on Nov. 28, 1972 to Robert E. Weathers shows a double walled container with the space between the walls filled with a plastic gel for maintaining the contents of the container at a low temperature. The end closures of the container are removable and also of double walled construction filled with a pleastic gel. The inner wall is shaped to conform to a beverage can and the outer wall has an extension to receive a carrying strap. It is mentioned that the outside wall of the container can be decorated to indicate the nature of the contents.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,802,220 shows a shipping carton having an article receiving tray. The tray comprises a sheet of plastic vacuum formed to define article receiving recesses and a flat sheet of plastic bonded to the periphery of the formed sheet. The space between the formed sheet and the flat sheet is filled with a refrigerant which also has cushioning properties.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,859,819 issued on Jan. 14, 1975 to Marx Kaplan shows a lunch box which has one hollow wall filled with a refrigerant such as "blue ice".
U.S. Pat. No. 3,974,658 issued on Aug. 17, 1976 to Richard F. Starrett shows what appears to be a large portable refrigerator box. The walls of the refrigerator box are insulated. A hollow refrigerant cartridge, which has one wall formed with recesses to partially receive beverage containers, is inserted either in the bottom or the top of the box. The refrigerant cartridge is filled with a refrigerant substance such as a gel. The refrigerator box is dimensioned such that some of the individual beverage containers are in contact either with the refrigerant cartridge and with at least one of the other beverage containers for conductive refrigeration.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,266,407 issued on May 12, 1981 to David E. Gibson shows a portable cooler having two molded insulated container halves with matching indentations. The two halves close over the containers placed in the indentations. Recesses are formed in one container half to receive oblong packages of a refrigerant.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,281,520 issued on Aug. 4, 1981 to Donald D. Norwood shows a portable cooler for a bottle which allegedly fits a varied range of bottle sizes. The cooler comprises a pair of hollow cooling modules each containing a liquid refrigerant. The cooling modules are shaped with a generally semicircular inner surface to contact a beverage bottle. One end of module is open so that the neck of a beverage bottle protrudes therethrough, or is totally open so that the beverage bottle can be inserted in or withdrawn from the cooler without disassembling the cooler. The pair of cooling modules are held together in an assembly by means of straps circumscribing both modules.
None of the prior-art refrigerated portable beverage containers known to me adequately satisfy all the above-mentioned and desirable attributes.